Log in

News

Regional News Briefs

MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Man accused of murder in death of accomplice

A man who told police that he was involved in an armed robbery at a barbershop has been charged with felony murder after his accomplice was killed, according to a criminal complaint.

A customer shot and killed Clemon G. Ferguson Jr., 18, while Ferguson and Jeremy T. Pierce, 21, tried to rob the barbershop last week in the 2400 block of N. King Drive. The Milwaukee County district attorney's office said the shooting was self-defense and is arguing that Pierce is responsible for the death.

Police officers had their first contact with Pierce on Nov. 21 when Pierce entered a police station at N. King Drive and W. Locust St., saying he was shot when someone tried to rob him outside of a barbershop down the street. He was taken to a hospital.

Police later interviewed a man who said two men entered the barbershop, trying to rob the business, and that he shot the pair.

Pierce later acknowledged that he and an accomplice went in the barbershop with the intent of robbing it, the complaint says.

WAUKESHA COUNTY

Man gets 75 days in jail for newspaper tip scam

Two men who concocted a scheme to defraud newspaper customers of tips they thought were going to the person who delivered the paper have been sentenced to jail for the scheme.

David S. Downer, 36, of Hartford, was sentenced Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court to 75 days in jail as a condition of two years' probation. Downer is allowed work release during the jail time.

Downer pleaded guilty in September to three counts of attempted theft by false representation, as party to a crime.

Stephen Schumacher, 42, of Pewaukee, pleaded no contest to the same charges. He was sentenced Monday to 21 days in jail, also with work release privileges, as a condition of nine months' probation.

Each man was ordered to pay $1,127 in costs and together pay $35 restitution to one of their victims.

About a year ago, a legitimate carrier for the Journal Sentinel noticed someone stuffing cards into newspaper tubes in Brookfield and alerted police. The cards wished customers happy holidays and listed Downer's name and Pewaukee mailing address.

The newspapers warned subscribers of the scam, but several had sent holiday tips to the Pewaukee address.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Fire damages die casting plant

The blaze originated in a grinding machine and was reported at 9:40 a.m., authorities said.

WISCONSIN

Darien man wins $1 million lottery prize

A Darien man didn't win the top prize in Saturday's near-record Powerball lottery drawing. No one did.

But Roger Cobb will take his $1 million.

Cobb bought a ticket at the Delavan Mobil Mart that matched five numbers picked in Saturday's drawing, but not the Powerball number. That netted him a $1 million prize, or more than $672,000 after taxes, according to the Wisconsin Lottery.

Since no one took home the top prize Saturday in the multistate lottery when $325 million was on the table, the prize pool for Wednesday's drawing has jumped $100 million to a record $425 million.

Dane County sees first-ever 'DNA sweep'

The first "DNA sweep" was conducted by law enforcement authorities in Dane County on Tuesday, targeting convicted sex offenders and felons who have failed to submit mandatory DNA samples.

About 30 officers from police departments in Madison, Fitchburg, Sun Prairie and Middleton, along with deputies from the Dane County Sheriff's Office, fanned out across the county looking for 93 people listed as being noncompliant, the sheriff's office said.

Contact was made with 14 offenders on the list who provided fingerprints and mouth swabs, one of whom was arrested on a warrant, the sheriff's office said.

Fox River PCBs removal ends for season

The costly work of removing harmful contaminants from the Fox River in northeastern Wisconsin has ended for the season, bringing the total volume of sediments dredged from river to 2.1 million cubic yards over the last four years.

The total price tag to remove polychlorinated biphenyls is estimated at $1 billion. The aim of the work is to make fish in the Fox safe to eat.

Some 662,000 cubic yards of sediment were dredged this year. Work is set to begin again next spring.

Work stropped prematurely in 2011 after Appleton Papers and NCR refused to spend more on the project, but a federal judge in Green Bay recently upheld the costly strategy of removing and capping sediments to protect the river.

PCBs are a legacy of paper making and were used from 1954 to 1971, especially in the production and recycling of carbonless paper for typewriters.

Teens in videotaped fight arrested

Madison - Two teens have been arrested after video of their street fight was posted to Facebook, police said Tuesday.

The video showed adults standing around watching the boys fight in the street last week. No serious injuries were reported.

Police said the fight lasted about 2 1/2 minutes. The video showed a 14-year-old repeatedly slamming the head of a 13-year-old into the pavement. The younger boy told police that he might have blacked out briefly.

Police began to investigate after they learned of a video of the fight that one boy had posted on his Facebook page.

The teens were arrested on tentative charges of battery and disorderly conduct.

5 whooping cranes from state arrive in Florida

After following an ultralight aircraft south for two months, five whooping cranes from Wisconsin have safely completed their first autumn migration to Florida.

The quintet of young whoopers will spend the winter at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast of Florida before returning north in spring, according to the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.

The youngsters left the White River Marsh State Wildlife Area in Green Lake County on Sept. 28.

This is the 12th group of whooping cranes to be guided by ultralights from Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast. Their arrival boosts the number of wild whoopers in the eastern United States to 115.

Whooping cranes are the tallest bird in North America. Adults stand 5 feet tall on thin, black legs. They are white with a large red patch of skin on their head.

After facing extinction in the 1940s, this crane species has steadily recovered with the aid of the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo and the eastern partnership.

Even so, the whooping crane is an endangered species with a total population of 600.

29 school districts bid for Race to Top grant

A network of 29 school districts in northwestern Wisconsin has advanced to the final round of consideration for a multimillion-dollar Race to the Top grant, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.

The districts are part of Cooperative Educational Service Agency No. 10 in Chippewa Falls, which was the only Wisconsin applicant among 61 finalists in the Race to the Top district-level competition.

Before the end of the year, the U.S. Department of Education expects to select between 15 and 25 winning applications for four-year grant awards ranging from $5 million to $40 million, according to the department.